Green Ranching
by pianobookworm18
Summary: Tony Stark takes Bruce Banner to the Scholl Ranch. Problems ensue. Sequel to 'A Different Sort of Adventure'
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. So here's the sequel to A Different Sort of Adventure. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Marvel's. I do own the Scholl Ranch, Daisy, etc.**

* * *

"Daisy! Phone for you!" came the call up the stairs. Daisy sighed. She loved organizing guests for the ranch, but sometimes it was a bit much. And unless she was very wrong, here was someone else calling, wanting to stay for a day or two, or a week.

Resignedly she walked down the stairs and took the phone from Ryan.

"Hello, this is Daisy."

"Ranch Girl Extraordinaire! Just who I wanted to talk to!" came the now-familiar voice.

"Tony?" Daisy asked in bewilderment. "Why are you calling? You were here just two weeks ago! And since when did you call me 'Ranch Girl Extraordinaire'?"

"Since just now," came the immediate reply. " 'Daisy' is too ordinary…I needed a different handle for you."

Daisy rolled her eyes, a futile gesture since the intended recipient of the motion was on the other end of a phone line. She _had_ heard of Stark's penchant for nick-naming people. "Fine. But you might not want to call me that while my dad is listening."

Tony chuckled. "Don't worry. I didn't call you that while I was there, did I?"

Daisy grudgingly assented. "Okay, yeah. So, um, back to the subject here, why did you call?"

"Well, remember my talk with you about bringing more of my friends out there?"

"Yeah," Daisy replied slowly, unsure of where this was going. "Do you mean one of them…uh, wants to come out here?"

"We-ell," Tony waffled, "One of them _is going_ to want to go out there. I haven't quite convinced him…yet. And I will convince him. But I wanted to set a date to get him out here by, so I had a deadline to convince him."

Daisy sighed. "Really? You want me to set aside time for someone to come here, who doesn't even _want_ to come?"

"Look, I _told _you not to worry. I guarantee that he will come out there on schedule," Tony promised.

There was a long pause. Then Daisy reluctantly agreed. "Alright. But on two conditions. You tell me who it is, and you give me a timeframe—do you want it to be as soon as possible, or next month, or in two months, and how long is he going to be here?"

"Great! I knew you would agree," Tony said nonchalantly. "Okay. Bruce is the one I'm trying to get out there—ah ah" he staved off Daisy's protests, "I will come with him, and he _will_ be perfectly fine around you guys. There's absolutely no reason for anything to happen out there."

"Very well," Daisy huffed. "How about a timeframe?"

"Hmmm," Stark muttered. "I need a little bit of time still, to convince Bruce…how about June? That's just about a month away, and that should be enough time for me."

Daisy nodded, then remembered Stark couldn't see her. "Uh-huh. Well, June is a pretty popular month around here—I'll see what slots I have in the calendar." She quickly skimmed through her calendar organizer to see if she had any room in June. "Let's see," she murmured to herself, "Logan has the first five days. Then there's a two day slot…" she turned her attention back to Tony. "Do you want to be out here longer than two days?"

"Definitely more than two days," he affirmed. "I would like closer to a week, but it doesn't have to be that long."

"Okay," She turned her attention back to the calendar. "Hmm, the third week is fairly empty. Sam and Dean leave on Sunday, then no one comes till Friday, and I'm not sure he's going to show up. The Doctor's always a bit iffy," she muttered to herself. "Okay, Tony. It looks like I have a slot Monday through Thursday the third week in June," she announced.

"Awesome."

Daisy frowned. _Did Tony Stark really just say 'awesome'?_ She was interrupted from her musings by realizing that he had continued to speak.

"I'll plan on that then. I'll talk to you later, work out a few details, stuff like that, ok?"

"Alright," Daisy smiled. "I'll put you guys down on my calendar."

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**Did you like my fandom references? Do I need to do those stories too? Review and tell me what you think, I really want to know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters.**

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"No. I can't do it, Tony. Stop pestering me." The undercurrent of tension in the words belied the calm tone in which they were given.

Tony huffed in exasperation. "C'mon, Bruce! You need a break! It's not like you would be in the middle of a gunfight—it's just a ranch."

"A ranch where people could get hurt."

"Bruce." Tony looked at Bruce steadily. "Look at me. You need a rest. Here, you're always working on things. You need to relax, have some fun. A ranch is the perfect opportunity."

Bruce Banner shook his head. "Sorry, Tony. I don't want to endanger them after they've willingly let me stay there, but don't know the danger I present."

Tony snorted. "What about Kolkata? Or Rio de Janeiro?"

Holding up his hands in protest, Bruce backed away, shaking his head. "Those were different, Tony," he objected. When Tony raised his eyebrows in disbelief, Bruce was driven to explain further. "Then, General Ross was trying to capture me. Also, those people didn't willingly take me in. I just stayed there."

"_They_ didn't know the danger you presented," Tony objected.

"Well, true," Bruce had to admit. "But here the situation is completely different. I'm not in any danger from General Ross anymore, and these people would be willingly letting me stay at their ranch. I wouldn't just…be there," he finished, striving lamely for words.

Tony nodded in his best 'yeah-I've-heard-it-all-before-and-I-don't-believe-a-word-of-it' look. "Ah, but one major point of your argument is that they don't know the danger."

"Yeah…?" Bruce questioned.

"Well, what if they did know?"

"But I thought you said that they had no idea that you were Tony Stark, or that Clint was Hawkeye, or any of that!"

Tony smirked. "Well, actually, one of them did. She's the guest coordinator. I like to think of her as 'Ranch Girl Extraordinaire', by the way." Seeing Bruce's raised eyebrows and his short nod, Tony continued. "I've already told her who you are, and she's fine with you coming there."

Bruce's eyebrows leapt sky-high in disbelief. "She knows who I am, and about the_ other guy_, and is _fine_ with me going out there?"

"Yeah, she was," Tony affirmed nonchalantly, neglecting to mention the fact that she was okay with it _only_ after he had assured her Bruce would be fine.

Bruce lowered his head into his hands and shook it slowly. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this," he groaned.

Tony's grin nearly split his face. "You're agreeing! Hah! I knew you would!" He patted Bruce on the back gently. "Don't be such a worrywart. You'll be fine, and you'll love it there."

Bruce nodded doubtfully. "Yeah, sure I will," he muttered under his breath.

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**Sorry this chapter's so short...I had the third chapter planned out, and I couldn't think of anything more to put in this one so...yeah. I love reviews if you want to post one! ;) (hint hint)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of Marvel's characters. Yes, the Scholl family and their ranch are my own.**

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"So... how do you think we ought to get there?"

Tony looked up from his latest project in surprise at Bruce's question. "Uh, I hadn't thought of that...I don't know... the usual way?"

Bruce nodded, eyebrows raised. "Right. So you think the usual method of travel across the country will work for us?" he asked incredulously.

Tony was truly befuddled. "Um, yeah? Why not?" he asked in confusion.

Bruce shook his head, recognizing the faraway look in Tony's eye. "You aren't _thinking_ about it, Tony. Stop thinking about your project, and think about this question. What is the usual method of transportation across half the country?"

"Well, flying, I guess," Tony shrugged. "Why would flying not work? I mean, I do have a private plane."

Bruce hesitated, then spoke. "Well…I don't think it's the best idea to have me on a plane. It's too…unpredictable."

Frowning, Tony pointed out, "But you were on the helicarrier…"

"Yeah, and I hulked out and broke part of it…and that was a huge helicarrier, not a private jet!"

"But we were under attack!" Tony protested. "You can't argue that those were normal conditions."

Bruce heaved a sigh. "Fine, Tony. You win this argument. But I still don't think a plane would work…how close is the nearest airport to the ranch?"

Tony's face fell. "Oh. You're right. It would be really hard to get from the airport to the ranch without someone recognizing me. Boom, no more secret hideaway." He frowned. "I could take the suit partway, but where would that leave you? And I can't take the suit all the way there, because then they would all know who I was," he added ruefully.

Bruce's eyebrows narrowed in thought. "Hmm, that might be a good idea, actually. I could drive out in my car (because it's not as conspicuous as your cars) and you could fly the suit, and I would pick you up just outside the ranch."

Tony nodded thoughtfully. "That sounds like a good plan, except we'll have to figure out timing, and when you will have to leave here—I mean, I'll just have to leave an hour or two before we want to meet, but we'll have to coordinate where we will meet, and when you have to leave here, and all that fun stuff."

Bruce smiled. "Well, I'll get working on it, in that case."

* * *

As the day drew near that Bruce and Tony would arrive at the ranch, Daisy took some time to tell the kids about their guests. (Obviously, she had already informed Maria)

"So you guys remember Tony, right?" she asked them, and they responded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, Tony was funny!" was Ryan's response. "He didn't know how to get the milk cows in," he elaborated, grinning.

Daisy hid a smile. "Well, he's coming back here, and he's bringing a friend."

Mandy smiled from ear to ear. "Really?" she squealed. Then she laughed. "We'll have lots of fun!"

Nodding, Daisy replied, "Yes, you will, but there's something I need to tell you."

When the wide-eyed kids nodded, she continued, "Tony's friend is named Bruce. He has a problem. If anyone scares or surprises him, or makes him mad, he might accidentally hurt someone, because he has a hard time controlling himself when he's angry or scared. So we can't sneak up on him and scare him like you do with some people. And you can't wake him up in the morning by scaring him, okay?"

She looked the kids in the eyes. When they had all nodded and said "Okay" she smiled. "Good. Just remember that, okay? It's important."

When she left, the kids looked at each other.

"We won't scare him, will we, Kylie?" asked Mandy.

Kylie shook her head solemnly. "No. We be nice t' 'im."

Ryan grinned. "We could ask him to build a fort with us! He would like that, I bet!"

The girls giggled excitedly. "Yeah! That would be fun!"

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**A.N. So what do you think of my story so far? Reviews would be lovely!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tony or Bruce. I do own the Scholl family.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

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"Tony? Where are you?"

Anyone who happened to just drive by on a low-frequented country road at approximately two o'clock in the afternoon would have seen a strange sight. A slightly nondescript grey explorer was parked on the side of the gravel road, while a rather plain man with brown hair and glasses held his cell phone up to his ear and scanned the sky anxiously. However, there were no observers of this spectacle.

They would have been even more entertained if they could have heard the conversation that was taking place.

"Uhh, I'm on my way, Bruce. Why?"

"I've been waiting here for half an hour already, Tony! And I arrived at the meeting place fifteen minutes after we arranged!" There was a slight tone of exasperation in Bruce's voice.

Tony paused. "Well, I may have…uh…made a few more stops than I planned. However, I _will_ be there soon. Maybe five minutes."

Bruce nodded his head skeptically. "You got lost, didn't you?"

"NO! I didn't get lost…well, maybe a little bit. But that was just because I landed to look at this really interesting rock formation, and got turned around. Jarvis corrected me, though."

"Okay. Well, I'll see you soon."

As it turned out, it was a good thing that there were no spectators of this scene, for soon Iron Man came flying into view, landing next to Bruce.

"See? I told you five minutes," he smirked, raising the faceplate of his helmet.

Bruce nodded stiffly. "Sure. Now get in the car. Let's go."

Still smirking, Tony did as he was told, and the vehicle pulled away.

* * *

Half an hour later, as the car pulled up to the ranch house, Bruce was surprised to see three young children run out to greet them, with huge smiles on their faces. A young woman, about eighteen years old, (who Bruce assumed was Daisy) and a woman who appeared to be the mother followed at a slightly slower pace.

As Tony opened his door, he was surrounded by children grinning ear to ear and talking a mile a minute.

"Tony! We _thought _you would get here soon!" Mandy exclaimed triumphantly.

"I tan, I tan, _wide a bike_!" declared Kylie.

"Dad and Jake are out working, but they'll be home soon. Mom and Daisy are coming," explained Ryan. "I bet we can have a lot of fun again," he grinned.

As Tony was busy replying, Bruce got out and came around the side of the car. The two girls just looked at him and didn't say anything. Ryan glanced at him, then looked away shyly.

Tony grinned. "Hey, guys, this is my friend Bruce. He's going to have a lot of fun with us too."

Bruce smiled. "Hi. It's nice to meet you."

Ryan looked down, then up at Bruce. "Hi. Do you like building forts?"

Bruce chuckled. "Well, I haven't built many forts, but I do like making things. But Tony's better at making things than I am. I figure things out, more than make stuff."

Ryan nodded. "Oh. Well, we're making a fort, and I thought you guys might be able to help, if you wanted to." He shrugged.

Just then Daisy and Maria came up to the car, smiling and inquiring after the trip. Daisy went right up to Bruce, as Maria was fussing over Tony, and held out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Daisy. I suppose you must be Dr. Banner?"

He smiled and nodded, shaking her hand. "Yeah, that's me, although you don't need to make a big deal about it. Just call me Bruce. It's nice to meet you, Daisy."

Smiling in return, Daisy nodded. "It's nice to meet you as well, Bruce." She looked him in the eye steadily. Bruce smiled wryly, finding it hard to realize that she had accepted him even while she knew who he was.

* * *

Tony grinned as Daisy came over to say 'Hi' to him. She wasn't wearing her usual attire: long-sleeved, loose plaid shirts with nondescript jeans. Instead she had on a rather pretty (and form-fitting) short-sleeved pink blouse and nice jeans. All in all, she was looking very nice.

"Hi, Tony," she smiled. "It's nice to have you back."

Tony shook her hand heartily. "It's nice to be back, _Ranch Girl Extraordinaire_."

Laughing, she shook her head, embarrassed. "You don't need to call me that," she muttered, but Tony pretended not to hear.

"Y'know, you look really nice in that shirt. Why didn't you wear one like that when I was here last time?" he asked with a wink.

He was startled by her reaction—her eyes immediately became hard, and she made a move like she was about to slap him.

"No. Flirting." she growled through clenched teeth.

Tony held his hands up, eyes wide. "Whoa there, I'm sorry. I was just saying you looked nice. What's the deal?"

Calming down, she sheepishly looked down and shook her head. "Sorry. It's just I've had to deal with flirting _all week_ from our last guests. Dean Winchester is really terrible about that. Dad was about to not let him come back. But 'no flirting' is _my_ rule for guests. I forgot to tell you last time. Although," she added pointedly, "I did assume that it wouldn't be that big a problem with you, what with Pepper."

Tony nodded warily. "Okay. I will remember that. But may I ask, why such a rule?"

Daisy shrugged. "Well, usually I'm quite a bit younger than the guests, so that's a problem. But the main reason I have that rule is because I have enough to deal with, running the guest part of this ranch, without having to deal with a superhero or some such for a boyfriend. It's just not practical."

"Makes sense, I guess," Tony answered. "Although, where's the fun in that?"

Daisy just rolled her eyes.

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**Pretty please, review! I want to know how I can make my stories better.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel, vis. Tony or Bruce, etc.**_

_**However: I do own the Scholl family. **_

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I updated. Life caught up with me and I also hit a writer's block. So I hope this chapter isn't too bad. Read on!**

* * *

The kids immediately took Bruce and Tony out to build a fort, since Jake and Erwin were not at the house. Ryan and Mandy explained it to Tony as they walked to the creek bottom, which was where the fort was located. And that was because the creek bottom was the only place with trees around, so it was the handiest place to build a fort. At least, that was what Tony deduced. No one had actually told him that in so many words.

"We started the fort," Ryan stated, "but we couldn't make it good."

Mandy wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, it kept falling over." She looked up at Bruce and grinned. "But you can help us make it better!"

Bruce smiled shyly. "Well, I hope so. Tony might be able to help better than I can, though."

Tony laughed. "Well, we'll see. I haven't worked with sticks that much, though, so I can't guarantee the results."

Kylie grinned from her perch on Tony's shoulder, where he had placed her after she started falling behind because of her short legs. "It'll be fun! We tan make de fort _lots_ better!"

"Hope so, kiddo," was Tony's reply.

* * *

After walking probably a quarter of a mile, Ryan finally stopped. "Here we are!"

Bruce looked in slight dismay at the large pile of—well, they were too big to be mere sticks, but they weren't really big enough to be called 'tree branches'. "Oh. You did say it fell over." _I didn't realize you meant this much,_ he added mentally.

Stark glanced over at him and winked. "Hey, this isn't so bad!" he exclaimed encouragingly. "We can have this fixed up in no time." Tony looked at the pile again, then turned back to Ryan. "But we will need some tools. Do you have a shovel?"

Ryan and Mandy both nodded eagerly as Tony put Kylie back on the ground. "Yeah, we have a shovel here," answered Ryan.

"And a hatchet!" eagerly supplied Mandy.

Tony nodded shortly, his working manner falling into place. "Very good, that'll work. Bruce, you work on some plans. Ryan and Mandy, you sort out the straighter branches from the curved ones. I'll be chief architect and engineer. Let's get this fort built!"

* * *

About two hours later, Daisy came down to the fort. As she came in sight of the now impressive structure, she stopped and her jaw dropped. Tony grinned at the sight of her face.

"Whaddaya think?" he asked casually, trying to conceal the smirk in his voice.

Daisy shook her head in unbelief. "I…wow." As she was trying to arrange her thoughts, Bruce peeked around the wall of the fort and gave a small grin. He could empathize with her amazement—the fort was about as far from a pile of sticks as you could get it while making it from a pile of sticks. It was now a formidable palisade structure, tightly woven together with willows and planted firmly in the ground. Daisy finally spoke. "Wow. How did you guys do this in two hours?"

Ryan, Mandy, and Kylie emerged from inside the fort. "Tony showed us how to do it the best way," Ryan explained.

"Yeah, he did a lot of the work," agreed Mandy. "But we helped!"

Bruce smiled. "These guys were pretty awesome. We all helped, but Tony certainly did a large part of the work."

Tony shrugged. "Eh, well, I have the most experience with building stuff."

Daisy smiled. "Well, you certainly all did a very good job. But that's not what I was coming down for." She turned to Ryan. "I'm sorry to have to interrupt your fort-building, but, Ryan, Mandy, it's time to get the milk cows in."

Ryan wrinkled his nose. "Aw, but we haven't been working on this very long." Then he looked at Tony and perked up. "Tony, will go with us? It's really fun to get the milk cows in with you!"

Feebly, Tony protested. "But the cows don't like me! They don't move, and that's not fair."

Mandy ran up to Bruce and grabbed his hand, tugging him back toward the buildings. "You'll come with us, won't you, Bruce? You're nice!"

Bruce rubbed his nose. "Ah, I don't know…" he waffled.

Daisy smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, the cows won't hurt you. They're really lazy and are around people a lot, so they won't charge you or anything."

Kylie wrapped her arms around Tony's leg and looked up at him, wide eyed and pleading. "Tan I go help det de milk cows in?"

Tony laughed. "Sure, kid. I don't mind."

Without further ado, the three children and two scientists started out toward the milk cows.

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**Please read and review! Also, I have a poll, please visit and say which characters you would like to see visit the Scholl ranch next!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**A.N. I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Life happened. I will try to be more regular, but I can't promise anything.**_

_**Disclaimer. I do not own any Marvel characters. I do own the Scholl family and ranch, though.**_

* * *

As Daisy and Maria were peeling potatoes for supper, Daisy happened to glance out the window and laugh. "Hey, Mom, come take a look at this!" she called. Maria walked up behind her, still holding the potato peeler in hand.

A strange procession was passing in front of the house. In the front were the cows, moving slowly and often turning their heads to gaze curiously at the scene behind them. Ryan was driving an ATV, with Bruce seated behind him. But that didn't look too odd. What had Daisy and Maria laughing was the two young girls and Tony. Tony was carrying Kylie on his shoulders and, with Mandy following suit, was running backward and forward behind the cattle. It appeared he was also yelling, presumably at the top of his lungs. Kylie was waving her arms back and forth and also yelling. Mandy was lunging at the cows, arms flailing and mouth wide open—she was probably yelling too.

Maria shook her head. "Those kids have too much fun with that poor man—they should tell him that the cows don't need to be hollered at to get them to move."

"I think he enjoys it almost as much as they do," Daisy smiled. "I hope Bruce isn't too overwhelmed by the shouting." She looked out, beyond the strange procession, to the fields. "When do you think Dad and Jake should be back?"

Maria shrugged. "I'm not sure. It should be soon, though. I wonder what they think of Bruce?"

* * *

As Tony and Bruce and the three kids walked back up to the house from the corrals where they had done the evening chores, an old blue pickup truck barreled down the road and pulled to a stop in front of the house. Two men in old, beat up cowboy hats emerged from the truck. One of them could hardly be called a man—he was basically still a boy. The other man had a long beard, kind of like the beards on Duck Dynasty. When they turned and saw Tony, Bruce and the kids, the men waved eagerly and, instead of going into the house, turned and walked down toward the small group.

Tony walked toward the older man and shook his hand warmly. "Erwin! It's good to see you again!" he grinned.

Erwin laughed. "Likewise. The kids have been asking when you were going to come back since you left!"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Of course they were! I'm their new favorite adopted uncle!"

Shaking his head, Erwin laughed once more, "Yeah, that's for sure."

Jake approached Bruce, extending his hand. "Hello. I'm Jake," he offered. "And you must be Bruce?"

Bruce gave a faint smile and took the proffered hand. "Yeah, that's me," he stated mildly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Jake smiled. "I hope you enjoy staying here."

Nodding nervously, Bruce gave a shy smile. "I hope so too. But I think I will," he added hastily. "From what I've seen, it's really nice here." He would have said more, but he was interrupted by a call coming from an open window in the house.

"Hey, guys!" Daisy called. "Time to eat!"

This effectively put an end to further conversation, as everyone quickly entered the house.

* * *

After supper (during which everyone had an enjoyable time filled with lots of laughter and witticism which cannot be reproduced here for fear of inadequately expressing the sentiment of fun) Tony was talking to Maria, Erwin, Jake, and Daisy, and the younger kids stole Bruce for certain nefarious purposes of their own.

"Will you help us play a prank on Tony?" Ryan asked Bruce confidentially. "We need someone older to help us but Daisy and Jake are talking to Tony."

Bruce surveyed Ryan, then looked over to Mandy, who was trying very hard not to giggle. He grinned slowly. "Okay, I think that would be fun. What are you planning to do?"

Mandy and Ryan whispered their plans in his ear. Bruce's eyebrows rose at one point, but by the time they got done, he had a sly smile on his face.

"Right," he informed them. "So for this, we'll need some wire and a…"

Ryan and Mandy hurried to gather the supplies needed and brought them back swiftly to Bruce. Quickly and quietly the three of them put together a little surprise for Tony, then breathlessly joined everyone else once more.

Daisy looked at the three pranksters suspiciously. "Where have you guys been?" she asked.

"Oh, y'know, just playing stuff," was the vague reply she received from Ryan.

Shaking her head, Daisy gave up her small investigation. Those three had been up to _something_, she was sure, but it wasn't worth it to find out.

* * *

It was pretty late for the ranch, but early for Tony when everyone finally retired to their rooms. So Tony stayed up, reading a book Jake had shown him about ranching in the late eighteen hundreds. When he finally got in bed, he didn't notice anything for a little bit. Then he started shifting uncomfortably, and finally he got out of bed and took his sheets off.

Upon which he rolled his eyes and resolved to get back at someone, somehow.

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed ****this update! I have a poll now, please vote and say which characters you would like to visit the Scholl ranch next! Reviews are alway welcome!**


	7. Chapter 7

_**A.N. Sorry for the short update. It's because of reasons. I'll try to post again soon!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Tony or Bruce. I do own the Scholl ranch and family.**_

* * *

"So, how'd you sleep last night, Tony?" Ryan asked eagerly, first thing in the morning when everyone was eating breakfast.

"So was it you?" was the quick rejoinder. "I thought you probably had something to do with it—however, you couldn't have done that on your own, so who helped you?"

Ryan grinned, ignoring the confused looks and knowing smirks around the table. "Are you sure I couldn't have done it by myself?"

"Uh, yeah," was Tony's quick reply. "That was pretty sophisticated. Someone helped you."

"What's this about?" asked Maria. "What did Ryan do?"

Tony sighed melodramatically. "Ryan—along with somebody else, which I maintain because that was too complicated for him to do himself—electrified my bed."

Daisy raised her eyebrows. "They electrified your bed?" she asked incredulously.

"Pre-cisely, Ranch Girl Extraordinaire. What are you laughing at? It wasn't funny."

Giggling, Daisy shook her head. "I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. We've heard a ton of stories about that prank, _Dad_."

Jake let out a shout of laughter as everyone turned to look at Erwin, who was chuckling into his beard. "Erm, well, yes, I suppose," he waffled.

Maria shook her head. "Whatever am I going to do with you? Pranks, now? You should be ashamed of yourselves! Bruce seems to be the only one keeping himself out of trouble."

Bruce looked down sheepishly. "Well, um, I actually helped Ryan set up the wire thing."

"I knew it," Tony remarked triumphantly.

Maria covered her face with her palm in exasperation.

* * *

"Hey, Jake!" Daisy called as Jake, Bruce and Tony were leaving to go fencing. "Do you mind if I come with you? It's been a while since I was able to help with fencing, and Mom doesn't need me to help here today."

Jake shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind." He gestured to the two four-wheelers. "You can take Tony on the green four-wheeler, and I'll take Bruce on the red one."

Bruce looked doubtfully at the ATVs. "Are those things safe?"

"They're fine," Daisy replied. "Well, they can be dangerous, but we'll be driving carefully today, right, Jake?"

Tony smirked. "I hope we will be. I don't have any plans that include breaking my neck in an ATV accident. Now _that_ would be ironic."

Jake gave Daisy an annoyed glance. "Yeah, I'll be careful. What's the big deal?"

Daisy shook her head, in turn annoyed with Jake. "Well, like Tony said, we don't want to break our necks."

Jake humphed. "Spoilsport."

Smiling in victory, Daisy climbed on her four-wheeler and turned the key.

* * *

Soon they were driving quickly toward the pasture where the fences were which needed fixed, four-wheelers bumping and jerking over rocks, sagebrush, and the uneven ground. Jake and Bruce were leading the way, while Daisy and Tony followed. Conversation was impossible because of the noise of the ATVs.

The terrain became rougher and soon they were in a draw which they would have to cross to get to the fence. Daisy's heart sank as she saw Jake pause at the bottom of a steep incline for a brief moment but then continue, revving his engine to make it over the steep spots. She had _said_ no reckless driving! What was Jake thinking? But before she had time to ponder over the question, the red four-wheeler's wheels came too close to the edge of a short drop-off, and Daisy watched in horror as the ATV flipped.

"Oh great," she heard Tony exclaim from behind in a tone that said exactly the opposite of the words coming out of his mouth. Pulling up to the overturned four-wheeler, she turned off her four-wheeler, leaving them to survey the scene in silence.

Jake lay on the ground grimacing and rubbing his head, but he was alive and apparently unharmed. Bruce was behind the four-wheeler.

"Jake! Are you okay?" Daisy gasped out, sprinting up to him. "What were you thinking? You could have gotten killed! And what about Bruce?.." she was cut off by Tony's voice from behind her.

"Uh, you might want to think about _getting_. _out_. of the way." Tony's voice was grim.

Daisy looked up at him in alarm, but when she saw where he was looking, her head swiveled back toward the four-wheeler, finally noticing the strange groans coming from behind it. _Oh. Bruce._

To her dismay, a giant, green, hand emerged from the other side of the ATV, accompanied by a muffled roar.

* * *

**See. Reasons. Cliffhanger!**

**Oh, and the prank? That was based off a real prank which a relative of mine actually did to someone, so that part is totally accurate. I think.**

**Review and you get first dibs on which character you would like to see visit the Scholl ranch next! Or you could just vote, in my poll. See ya!**


	8. Chapter 8

_**A.N. So here's the next chapter...sorry for how short it is, but I hope you enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel, therefore I do not own Tony, Bruce, or any Marvel characters mentioned herein. I do own the Scholl ranch and family.**_

* * *

For a second Daisy could do nothing but stand there, petrified in her terror. A green rage colossus arose from behind the four-wheeler, roaring. Jake had opened his eyes and was looking from Daisy to the Hulk, wide-eyed. She couldn't tell if it was from astonishment or fear, or both.

"Jake! Daisy! _Get out of there!_" Tony's voice came from behind, finally galvanizing Daisy out of her stupor. She looked frantically for a way for her and Jake to escape, but nothing came to view or mind. So she huddled by Jake, watching the Hulk warily.

Stark was still yelling something, she faintly realized. Something about the other ATV, and a suit, and darts, but she didn't see how all those went together. But it was just a small niggling at the back of her mind as she stared up at the Hulk, who turned his menacing gaze toward her and Jake.

"Can you get up?" Daisy whispered frantically to Jake. "We need to get away."

"Yeah, I think so," he replied shortly. "Can you help me?"

Not taking her eyes off the Hulk, Daisy helped Jake struggle to his feet with what seemed agonizing slowness. At last he was standing upright, and the siblings began to back away slowly, with no sudden movements that might cause the Hulk to attack. Daisy's heart was in her mouth and every breath she took seemed too loud. But Jake was leaning on her—she couldn't break and run. So she took another step, slowly. Forcing herself not to think too hard, she took another step. And another.

* * *

The three small ones were scared—Hulk could smell it on them. But it wasn't the nasty kind of fear, the kind that brought out the guns. It was the fear that sent people away from him. That was the better kind; he would be left alone after this.

But sometimes the "go away" fear would turn into the "gun" fear. So he couldn't turn away—not yet. He had to wait until they left.

They were taking too long to leave. The girl and the boy were moving toward the little man, but it was too slow. And the little man was not moving away at all—he was moving toward Hulk, not away.

_They had to leave._ Hulk needed to be left alone.

He would tell them.

* * *

_Step. Step. Almost there. Another step. Slowly, Daisy. You can't afford to mess this up. _Daisy slowly turned her head and looked behind her—and jumped when she saw Tony only inches away from her. Before the voice in her head could scream, _No, this is a bad idea, keep quiet, _ she gasped and exclaimed, "Tonyyouscaredme!"

Tony winced. "Hey, be careful, will you?"

Jake gave a short laugh. "We're trying to."

But Tony wasn't paying that much attention. He was looking past them, dismayed. "Uh oh. This isn't good."

Narrowing his eyes, the Hulk rushed toward the three.

"LEAVE HULK ALONE!" he roared, picking them up as easily as a child picks up dolls. He set them down on the four-wheeler that had not flipped. "GO!"

Daisy, who had been in front, wasted no time in turning the key in the ignition and pulling away.

Looking over his shoulder as they drove off, Tony saw the Hulk turn and run in the opposite direction.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed! Please review and tell me what you think!**

**As for the next story, it looks like I will be doing Steve coming to the ranch. Here's a short list of stories I intend to do, in order:**

**Steve  
Thor  
Pepper Potts**

**I have a few others I'm hoping to do, but these are the ones in the works at the moment!**

**See ya!**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters. (aka the Hulk and Iron Man) I do own the Scholl Ranch and Family.**_

* * *

As soon as they were out of sight of the Hulk, but not yet in sight of the ranch buildings, Daisy abruptly stopped the ATV. Killing the engine, she turned toward Tony and Jake.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked quickly, in a slightly panicked tone of voice.

Jake looked at her with hurt in his eyes. "I don't know," he said bitterly. "Just what was that back there?"

Daisy bit her lip. "I, uh." She shook her head and sighed. "I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess you do," was his short reply. "So explain. Was that really the Hulk? And if so, why was he on the ranch?"

Daisy slid off the four-wheeler to awkwardly pace—pacing always helped her think better, even if it was awkward. "Well, uh…"

"Yeah, that was the Hulk," Tony broke in. "And I'm the reason why he's here. Don't blame your sister, Jake. She's the Ranch Girl Extraordinaire, and she is very mature, and responsible. I'm the one who said this would all work out."

Jake looked at Tony, suspicion in his scrutiny. "Yeah? And just who are you? Because I'm guessing that you have something you're not telling us, just like Bruce did."

Tony pursed his lips. "Well, technically, I didn't hide anything from you. I just didn't tell you some things about myself. Which most people know as soon as they see me," he clarified, as Jake seemed ready to blow up.

Daisy noted this as well, and put her hand on Jake's shoulder to steady him. "Tony… is Tony Stark, Jake." _May as well just tell him straight out,_ she reasoned. "And, yeah, I knew," she replied to the question in his eyes.

Jake closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face. "Tony _Stark_. Oh, man." He lifted his head and looked at Daisy, a look of betrayal on his face. "_Tony Stark_ was on our ranch, and you didn't tell me?! I _found_ him, for goodness' sake!"

Daisy's head ached. Today had been too much. She could feel the tears of frustration start to well up in her eyes as she rubbed her throbbing temples and swallowed. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, okay? I was supposed to be the only one to know." Her voice was rising too much, and she took a deep breath to force it back down to where it was supposed to be. "If everyone on the ranch knows who's visiting, it's hard to keep it quiet, and that makes it so they can't come." She rubbed her eyes and took another deep breath. "But now I've got a Hulk to deal with, and I don't know what to do!"

Expressionless, Jake looked at Daisy. "Well, I'm sorry. I don't know either."

The scathing tone in his voice caused hurt tears to well up in Daisy's eyes. She blinked rapidly and bit her lip, turning to Tony desperately. "Do _you_ have any ideas?"

* * *

"Alright, so you're going to come out and meet Bruce and I at the fence corner next to the cattle guard into the…whatsit…Green pasture." Tony did a twirling motion with his hands as he looked up from the back seat of Bruce's vehicle where he was fiddling with something that looked suspiciously red and gold.

Daisy, who was standing behind Tony, nodded. "Yeah. And I told Mom that we came back because Jake had an accident with the four-wheeler, but Bruce wanted to stay out there for a while, and you and I would go back and pick him up." She sighed. "Jake's still pretty mad."

Tony looked up and grimaced. " 'Fraid I can't help you there, kid." He gave a wry smile. "I'm not exactly stellar at getting along with people myself." He straightened up, pulling a suitcase out of the vehicle. "Why don't we head that way, then, as long as your mom thinks that that's what we're doing?"

Puzzled by his words, Daisy looked at the suitcase curiously. "But that _is_ what we are doing. I didn't lie…I just didn't tell her everything."

"Well, we're not going out _together_," Tony qualified. "I've got a little more tinkering I need to do before I'm quite ready to go. But I don't want anyone to see me in the suit, so we need to head out so I have a place to fiddle without someone seeing. You'll drop me off and then keep driving out."

"You mean I won't get to see Iron Man in action?" Daisy pouted.

Tony smirked. "Not this time. But I'll show you, before I leave this time," he quickly promised, to make up for not letting her see it this time.

Daisy nodded. "Okay. But you better make sure and fulfill that promise," she warned him. "If you don't, there will be consequences." She waggled her finger at him threateningly.

Chuckling, Tony gave a quick nod. "Got it."

* * *

Daisy sat on the four-wheeler by the corner of the fence where Tony had told her to wait, fidgeting. It had barely been five minutes, and already it seemed like she had been waiting an eternity. Nothing had happened. At all.

Her mind wandered to Jake, and she sighed. This whole thing was her fault, and she couldn't blame Jake for being angry with her. Still, it hurt. He had barely spoken a word to her after they arrived home, and it wasn't just because he was tired and aching.

Suddenly she noticed something moving out of the corner of her eye, and looked up to see a red…object streaking off toward the far corner of the pasture. Daisy grinned. So she _had_ gotten to see Iron Man in action, after all.

* * *

**I hope you liked this installment! Sorry that there's not more action, I promise there will be next chapter. Review and tell me what you think!**

**See ya!**


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